TiVo Inc. has recently begun marketing a personal television service that allows users to enhance the viewing of a television broadcast. Rather than recording a television program on an analog tape using a conventional VCR, this service uses a video recording device that digitizes the incoming video and stores it on an internal storage device. In this way, the TiVo service allows a user to digitally record a variety of television programs and then control the viewing of these programs at their leisure. For instance, the TiVo service permits a user to pause the broadcast video for up to 30 minutes and then resume viewing at a later time. Since the service is intended for viewing within the home environment, it generally assumes that the user does not need to watch the television broadcasts within a limited time period. As a result, the TiVo service does attempt to retain a close correlation in time between the incoming video broadcast and the television programs being viewed by the user.
Likewise, it is desirable to provide a similar service for enhancing the playback of a radio broadcast. Although applicable in a variety of environments, a service for manipulating a radio broadcast in real-time would be very desirable in the context of a motor vehicle. Unlike in the home environment, the user typically is listening to a live radio broadcast during the short time intervals in which they are travelling in the vehicle.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a method for enhancing the playback of a radio broadcast in real-time. For instance, it is envisioned that a user may want to replay a short segment of the radio broadcast. However, the user may also be accustomed to listening to a particular portion of the broadcast during the time they spend in the vehicle. In this case, it is desirable to playback the broadcast slightly faster than real-time in order to synchronize with the live broadcast. Alternatively, it is envisioned that a user may not want to listen to the commercials during a live radio broadcast. In this case, the playback of the broadcast is enhanced by skipping over the commercial segments of the radio broadcast. In any event, it is desirable to provide a method for manipulating the playback of a live radio broadcast, and yet retain a close correlation in time between the incoming broadcast signal and the audio output generated by the audio system.